Scouting Alabama A&M
Alabama A&M opened its 2002-03 campaign with a 96-79
home victory over Tuskegee Friday night in Huntsville,
Ala. The Bulldogs return eight letterwinners and four
starters from last year’s squad that finished 19-10
and 12-6 in the SWAC.

Sophomore guard Ricky Ricketts was the Bulldogs’ leading
scorer with 28 points in the season opener. Ricketts
joins senior forward Nigel Moore, who scored 17 points
against Tuskegee after averaging 11.7 points and 5.6
rebounds per game last season.

Also returning for Alabama A&M are senior forward Anthony
Hayes, who averaged 9.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per
game last season, senior forward Garik Nicholson, who
averaged 5.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last season
and junior forward Jarvis Smith, who averaged four points
and four boards per contest last year.

Alabama A&M finished second in the SWAC’s regular season
race last season and lost in the semifinals of the SWAC
Tournament. Despite having four starters back, the Bulldogs
must replace Desmond Cambridge, their first-team All-SWAC
point guard, who led the league in scoring.

Holwerda Begins With Career Night
Jason Holwerda is trying his best to avoid a sophomore
slump as he began his second Commodore season with a
bang. Against Southeastern Louisiana, Holwerda recorded
career highs in points (12), FGs made (5), FGs attempted
(7), 3-pt FGs made (2), 3-pt FGs attempted (4) and tied
a career high with five assists.

The native of Chattanooga, Tenn., also played solid
defense throughout the game. And for good measure, he
helped out on offense with two alley-oop dunks. With
the first dunk, Holwerda set up Matt Freije for the
acrobatic slam. For the second play, Holwerda took a
midcourt pass from freshman Mario Moore and finished
the fast break with a rim-rattling dunk.

Commodores On Target
Vanderbilt opened the season with an inside game that
has not been a part of the Commodore offense for years.
One of the early byproducts of this new philosophy is
a high field goal percentage.

Against Southeastern Louisiana, Vanderbilt shot 62
percent (31-50) from the field and an even better 73.1
percent (19-26) in the second half alone.

The Commodores still made 5-of-12 (.417) from behind
te threepoint arc. But it was the 44 points in the paint
that on the game for Vanderbilt.